National HS Top 50: April 4

After capturing the crown at the 2017 National High School Invitational, Orange Lutheran (Calif.) has re-claimed their spot atop the High School Top 50. Led by seniors, and draft prospects, Garrett Mitchell and Tristan Hanoian, the Lancers were able to be very effective during the weekend and even exhibited grittiness during their numerous comeback victories.

Archbishop McCarthy (Fla.) drops to No. 2 after dropping their first game of the 2017 campaign and they are followed by Huntington Beach (Calif.), Buchanan (Calif.) and Oxford (Miss.) to round out the top 5.

There are six newcomers to the list for this edition as George Ranch (Texas), Spring Hill (Tenn.), Shawnee (Okla.), Lake Brantley (Fla.), Northern Guilford (N.C.) and St. Joe’s Regional (N.J.) all join the list. George Ranch is off to a hot start at (20-1) and is ranked the highest of the newcomers checking in at No. 35 on the list.

Winder-Barrow makes the largest jump this week, moving up 11 spots after their impressive performance in the NHSI. The offense for the Bulldogs is explosive with Vanderbilt signee Pat DeMarco and Kennesaw State commit Beau Hanna leading the charge. The pitching was impressive as Winder-Barrow limited a daunting Huntington Beach offense to just one run in 10 innings.

A lot of the northern schools began their seasons last week and will continue to rack up stats from here on out. Seton Hall Prep (N.J.) and Malvern Prep (Penn.) have still not played game one, but St. Joe’s Regional got their first victory of the season over the weekend. As the Northeast and Midwest heats up, more teams from those respective areas will likely join the Top 50.